Finding The Courage

Part 70

Tris and I stormed into the dorm to find Four and Cara chatting. They took us in and I could tell that we probably looked less put together than when we left this morning. I had taken off my heels and ran to the dorm as fast as I could after the council meeting had let out. I had waited until we were out of sight to ditch the shoes and hustle back to our friends. Our dresses were well past our midthigh now as they had shifted up to allow us to move faster.

"What happened?" Four asked as he smoothed a hand over Tris's hair and took in the panic that was prevalent on mine.

"Council meeting." Tris managed to get out as she sat down on one of the beds. I began rummaging through the clothes that I had trying to find the best outfit for what we needed to do.

"I hate to be repetitive but what happened?" Cara asked as she watched me throw clothes around.

"The council has made plans, big ones." Tris said, but still too vague.

"She means to say that if we plan to save our city we have two days to do it." I cut in as I slipped a pair of pants on and stripped off the dress. I pulled a tank top over my head as Tris continued to explain everything to them.

"What are you going to do?" Cara asked.

"I don't know, I don't feel like I know what the right thing is now."Tris exclaimed.

"Isn't it obvious? We stop them." I said.

"Wren is right. They shouldn't have the power to do that." Four backed me up.

"Import new scientists and get rid of the old ones?" Cara offered.

"No, Alan and Matthew came up with a way to make the serum behave like a virus. We should reset them." Tris said. "If we take away the propaganda and disdain for the GD then the memories of the people in the experiments will be safe."

"Wouldn't that also render them useless?" Cara asked.

"I think there is some way to target the memories but I don't know, we should ask Matthew." Tris stood up and I followed.

"Tris wait," Four blocked her path. "You can't really want to reset an entire population's memories. You'd be no better than them."

"These people have no regard for human life, they're responsible for most of the deaths of our former faction, they're about to wipe our friends and families. I think they're lucky I'm not going to kill them." Tris countered as she stormed past Four. Cara and I followed her to Matthew's lab with Four trailing carefully behind us. When we arrived Matthew looked a little surprised to see all of us. When Tris demanded answers he was more than happy to supply them.

"The serum leaves implicit memories like how to speak or tie your shoes alone. It targets things like your name and where you grew up."

"Interesting." Cara murmured. Tris and I shared a look and she shared another with Four, it was incredibly frustrating to be around people who spoke the same sort of code and wouldn't let you in on the thought process.

"Some important memories would be lost, that's inevitable but if we have a record of things then those can be relearned. People are very pliable." Matthew finally explained.

"If the Bureau is going to load the planes with memory serum will there be any left for the compound?" Tris asked. I was leaning against the wall trying to come up with more of a plan.

"We'd have to get some first, in less than two days." Matthew answered.

"After you erase their memories won't you have to give them new ones?" Cara asked.

"Yes but they will be much easier to control. We can hold a class to reteach history with the facts this time." Matthew explained. I missed something Tris said because I had been tuned out but Matthews point brought me back.